A new study has concluded video games are still overly sexualising the presentation of women - but also that this practice has declined in the last 20 years.

The study, developed by Indiana University, has collated information from 571 playable female video game characters in games produced between 1989 and 2014 - making for A LOT of gaming to draw conclusions from.

Lynch's piece found hypersexualised depictions of women who sported enlarged breasts and narrow waists were most common in fighting games such as Mortal Kombat and in games rated Teen and above.

And while the study did show that such depictions have been declining since 1995, it also ruled that female characters are often considered "secondary" to male ones.

Lara Croft is pointed out as a prime example in the study, citing her original short shorts and tight crop tops worn at her debut in 1996 being swapped out for longer trousers and more practical clothing in 2015's Rise of the Tomb Raider.

Lynch's research also considered the gender divide behind the scenes, revealing that only three percent of video game developers were women in 1989, while the 30% of the industry's workforce who were female primarily worked in low-ranking positions.

"The gaming industry has faced a lot of scrutiny," Lynch said of her research (via PBS). "It's realising it's marginalising half its audience [by] making women characters pander to the male gaze.

"There is a dominant masculine preference and there has been toxic encounters that are gendered in nature. But the game industry has been very receptive in trying to involve more women. It's having more open conversations [about sexism] than ever before."

Hopefully we will soon see a more realistic depiction of Lara Croft on the movie screen too, as Divergent's Evan Daugherty reboots the film series with Alicia Vikander as the heroine on her first mission.